March 2016

March 22, 2016

Scanstrut will be a familiar name to many readers. Makers of various mounts and pods for radomes and marine electronics they have just introduced this handy USB socket. I have a couple of the ubiquitous cigarette lighter type sockets on the boat and they work well enough for charging the latest tablet, phone or iThing but they do have a couple of deficiencies. Namely the adaptor that plugs into the socket does not always make the best electrical connection, you think that your phone or whatever is charging on to find out that it isn't often at a bad time, and second, although the sockets work OK below decks they are far from ideal on the flybridge or the cockpit in an open boat where they are likely to get doused in spray.

Both these issues are addressed in the new socket which features not just one but two USB outputs, one 1 amp and a second 2.5 amp, allowing you to charge two things simultaneously. As can be seen from the pictures a flip cover seals out water with a neoprene gasket and the design of the cover means that water tends to drip off. The units has only just been introduced in the USA and although some online retailers are advertising it for around $30 there may be a slight delay until you can actually get your hands on one.

If I do have a complaint is that the front sticks out some and could get caught even when not in use - the cigarette lighter socket wins on this count as with nothing plugged in it's almost flush with the dash, console or whatever.

March 10, 2016

March 08, 2016

Every once in a while it’s necessary to bore a hole in the end of longish piece of wood. For that you have a couple of choices; put the wood in the vice and drill into the end eyeballing the hole, or make some sort of jig and do it on the drill press.

I must confess that I often have been in something of a rush and gone with the first option but it’s rarely perfect and depending on the size of the wood and the size of the drill bit can be a tad unsafe. Far better then, especially if you have more than one to do is to make some sort of jig. The drawing shows one option and it’s one that works well, which once made can be stored in the workshop for future use. The one caveat to success is to ensure that the drill press table is perfectly perpendicular to the drill spindle, which is easy enough to check with a decent square.